Visitors heading out to the Overland Park Arboretum are now greeted by a big surprise: a ticket charge. After more than two decades as a free attraction, the 300-acre outdoor venue just-off of 179th street and 69 Highway is now charging $3 dollars to enter and a buck for kids.

Thanks in part to the controversy over a bronze statue of a topless woman, last year was the best ever for the arboretum which is trying to get visitors to think of them as MORE than just a park. Joining us on The Local Show is the Chair of the Friends of the Arboretum Dennis Patton.

This is great news! Keep in mind that, when you buy gas, 90% of the money you spend leaves your community. If you calculate the total, it’s tens of millions leaving your local economy every year.

When you buy an EV, you’re going to use 100% domestic energy that costs about 20% that of gasoline. The 20% goes to your local utility, so most of that money stays local. The other 80% stays in your pocket. You can then spend that money, several hundred dollars to maybe more than a thousand, on local goods and services. When thousands of your fellow citizens are doing this, millions of dollars that used to go out of state, or out of the country, will instead be spent locally generating jobs and wealth in your community.